Comment is free + Google Street View | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/commentisfree+technology/google-street-view
Indexen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:28:38 GMT2015-03-31T21:28:38Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
Google, there's no such thing as 'the perfect map' | Jerry Brottonhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/16/google-no-such-thing-as-perfect-map
The corporation should be honest about its cartographic ethos: its Google Maps app is partly a tool for delivering ads<p>On Wednesday Google announced the <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/google-maps-gets-new-look-built-earth-later-mobile-update-1C9932429" title="">most radical overhaul of the company's online virtual maps application</a> since its creation just eight years ago. The revamped application is clearly a riposte to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2012/sep/20/apple-google-maps-headache" title="">Apple's disastrous launch of its own mobile maps application last autumn</a>, when Paddington vanished and Dublin gained another airport. Google's improvements have come with a claim that, as a cartographic historian and the author of a book on the history of world mapmaking, gave me a distinct feeling of deja vu. &quot;A perfect map of the world,&quot; announced Google vice-president <a href="http://searchengineland.com/interview-with-amit-singhal-google-fellow-121342" title="">Amit Singhal</a>, echoing just about every great mapmaker since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy" title="">Ptolemy</a>, &quot;is foundational to delivering exactly what you want, when you want, and where you want it.&quot;</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/16/google-no-such-thing-as-perfect-map">Continue reading...</a>GoogleMapping technologiesSearch enginesGoogle Street ViewInternetTechnologyAdvertisingMediaGeographyScienceMapsThu, 16 May 2013 13:11:36 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/16/google-no-such-thing-as-perfect-mapGuardianThe Hereford mappa mundi, c 1285, shows Jerusalem at the centre of the world. ‘World maps are always made with the beliefs and prejudices of their makers.'GuardianThe Hereford mappa mundi, c 1285, showed Jerusalem at the centre of the world. 'World maps are always made with the beliefs and prejudices of their makers.' Photograph: GuardianJerry Brotton2013-05-16T13:11:36ZMaps: site of an epic territorial struggle between Apple and Google | Dan Gillmorhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/25/maps-site-struggle-apple-google
If you upgraded your iPhone to iOS6 and got lost because of the map app, you are the collateral damage in a monopolists' war<p>So, iPhone users, how do you like being collateral damage?</p><p>If you &quot;upgrade&quot; to iOS6, Apple's latest mobile operating system, you are going to lose an essential app that was native and bundled in previous systems. What you'll get instead is, by all accounts, inferior to what's gone missing. I refer, of course, to the mapping software that Apple has cobbled together from several small-company buyouts and its own considerable, if inadequate to date, efforts to create a serious rival to the banished Google Maps.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/25/maps-site-struggle-apple-google">Continue reading...</a>Mapping technologiesAppleGoogleTechnologySoftwareSmartphonesGoogle Street ViewUS newsWorld newsEbooksAppsOpen sourceNokiaKindleE-commerceiPhoneMobile phonesMapsTue, 25 Sep 2012 20:06:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/25/maps-site-struggle-apple-googleGoogle MapsGoogle Maps view of Google headquarters. Photograph: Google MapsGoogle MapsGoogle Maps view of Google headquarters. Photograph: Google MapsDan Gillmor2012-09-25T20:06:00ZGoogle: a paragon of internet virtue no&nbsp;more | Andrew Smithhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/13/google-paragon-internet-virtue-no-more
The latest Google scandal may see the firm's slide into the dark side become irreversible in the eyes of the public<p>When the US Federal Trade Commission slapped a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/aug/09/google-record-fine-ftc-safari?newsfeed=true" title="">fine of $22.5m on the search giant Google last week</a>, it was easy to dismiss as relatively insignificant against a worldwide profit of nearly $3bn. But it marks an important point in a shift in perceptions of Google, once seen as a paragon of internet virtue.</p><p>It's easy to forget the extent to which Google's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Page" title="">Larry Page</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Brin" title="">Sergey Brin</a> were once seen as good guys. The pair met and began work on their search engine in 1995, but refused to participate in the dotcom mania which was making their peers rich on the back of half-baked ideas and hype.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/13/google-paragon-internet-virtue-no-more">Continue reading...</a>GoogleSergey BrinLarry PageInternetEric SchmidtGoogle Street ViewMapping technologiesMediaTechnologyUS newsWorld newsMon, 13 Aug 2012 20:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/13/google-paragon-internet-virtue-no-moreKaren Bleier/AFP/Getty ImagesGoogle has been fined $22.5m by the US Federal Trade Commission. The firm was judged to have misled Apple users as to the efficacy of the privacy protection settings on Safari browsers. Photograph: Karen Bleier/AFP/GettyKaren Bleier/AFP/Getty ImagesGoogle has been fined $22.5m by the US Federal Trade Commission. The firm was judged to have misled Apple users as to the efficacy of the privacy protection settings on Safari browsers. Photograph: Karen Bleier/AFP/GettyAndrew Smith2012-08-13T20:30:01ZGoogle Street View has got off lightly | Ian Brownhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/nov/04/google-street-view-got-off-lightly
Google deserves more than a slap on the wrist for its Wi-Fi-snooping Street View cars – our privacy needs protecting<p>Google is facing <a href="http://epic.org/privacy/streetview/" title="Epic.org: Investigations of Google Street View">legal investigations</a> around the world into its Wi-Fi-snooping Street View cars. But after cursory consideration, the UK's information commissioner has forgiven the company this illegal interception in return for a promise to do better in future. Why should any company or government agency care about complying with data protection law if this is the worst they can expect?</p><p>This is not the first time that the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has been unable to help the individuals whose privacy it is responsible for protecting. Despite voicing concerns about the growth of a &quot;surveillance society&quot;, it had little impact on Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's mania for centralised databases. It has taken a change of government to stop the National Identity Scheme and the ContactPoint database of 11 million children. Nor did the ICO take action after tens of thousands of users' browsing behaviour was profiled without their consent by an <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/03/privacy.telecoms" title="Guardian: BT admits tracking 18,000 users with Phorm systems in 2006">advert targeting system from Phorm</a>.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/nov/04/google-street-view-got-off-lightly">Continue reading...</a>Google Street ViewGoogleData protectionInternetComputingMapping technologiesTechnologyPrivacyWorld newsThu, 04 Nov 2010 14:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/nov/04/google-street-view-got-off-lightlyHarold Cunningham/Getty ImagesA Google Street View car waits at a light in London. Photograph: Harold Cunningham/Getty ImagesHarold Cunningham/Getty ImagesA Google Street View car waits at a light in London. Photograph: Harold Cunningham/Getty ImagesIan Brown2010-11-04T14:30:01ZGoogle's arrogance presages a mighty fall | Nick Cohenhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/31/google-street-view-intrusion
The internet giant could pay a high price for its heavy-handed attitude toward the collection of confidential information<p>Google's corporate slogan – &quot;Don't be evil&quot; – has always bothered me. No one should &quot;be&quot; evil, of course. But why did Google need to spell out its determination to avoid Satan and all his works with such vehemence? When a husband declares to his wife that he would never dream of taking a mistress, or a chief executive interrupts a board meeting to announce that she isn't embezzling the company's funds, the audience is entitled to wonder if they're listening to the voice of a guilty conscience.</p><p>At present, hundreds of millions of people find the idea that Google could be evil unthinkable. It has so weaved itself into the fabric of everyday life that it has gone from being a proper noun to a verb: &quot;I google&quot;; &quot;You google&quot;; &quot;The whole world googles&quot;. I doubt many users think of it as a business at all. The simple home page carries no adverts or PR puffs; it feels as much a public space as the street outside your door. When you reach the search results, Google does not call the adverts running down the side &quot;adverts&quot; but &quot;sponsored links&quot;, as if it were a charity and philanthropists were helping further its noble endeavour.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/31/google-street-view-intrusion">Continue reading...</a>GoogleGoogle Street ViewSat, 30 Oct 2010 23:04:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/31/google-street-view-intrusionNick Cohen2010-10-30T23:04:11ZWhat an aerial view doesn't show | Editorialhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/05/maps-aerial-view-technolgy
Despite great advances in mapping technology, it is worth making the effort to return to earth occasionally for a healthy dose of reality<p>Last week, the world's most thoroughgoing map-maker, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/apr/01/ordnance-survey-maps-download-free" title="Ordnance Survey launches free downloadable maps">the Ordnance Survey, released much of its data free of charge</a>. This was <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/free-our-data" title="Free our Data">an important victory in the campaign for open access to information</a>, but mapping has already been transformed by satellite imaging and the&nbsp;internet.</p><p>&quot;Methinks it would please any man to look upon a geographical map … to behold, as it were, all the remote provinces, towns, cities of the world, and never to go forth of the limits of his study, to measure by the scale and compass their extent, distance, examine their site.&quot; When <a href="http://she-philosopher.org/previews/pv-gallery09.html" title="She Philosopher Gallery exhibit on maps of Brazil and the Atlantic passage from Europe ">Robert Burton wrote that in 1621</a>, maps were expensive and inaccurate, and charted only a tiny fraction of the earth's surface. Today it is possible to look at high-resolution images of the entire planet, to admire the shapes of mountains and valleys, and to &quot;walk&quot; down the streets of unfamiliar cities. What has not changed is the delight we take in this armchair&nbsp;exploration, what Al Gore once described&nbsp;as <a href="http://www.isde5.org/al_gore_speech.htm" title="The Digital Earth: Understanding our planet in the 21st Century">the &quot;magic carpet ride&quot; over a digital earth</a>.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/05/maps-aerial-view-technolgy">Continue reading...</a>Google Street ViewGoogleTechnologyMapping technologiesMapsSun, 04 Apr 2010 23:05:48 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/05/maps-aerial-view-technolgyPublic DomainGoogle Earth – a view over Central Park, New York City. Photograph: Public DomainEditorial2010-04-04T23:05:48ZGoogle almighty?http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/poll/2010/feb/16/internet-google
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/feb/12/google-buzz-social-network-poster-child">Google Buzz</a>, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/google-wave">Google Wave</a>, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/sep/02/isthereanythingoriginalin">Google Chrome</a>, the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2008/sep/23/mobilephones.google">Google phone</a>... Google products are gaining momentum, which is not to everyone's taste. Vodafone's boss warns Google could <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/16/vodafone-warns-google-power">harm consumer choice</a>. Do you agree? <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/poll/2010/feb/16/internet-google">Continue reading...</a>UK newsInternetGoogleGoogle WaveGoogle Street ViewTue, 16 Feb 2010 12:39:13 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/poll/2010/feb/16/internet-googleTorsten Sills/AFPIs Google's growing power a threat to consumer choice? Photograph: AFPElizabeth Dalziel/APChinese poke their heads through a Google logo after the company launched its Chinese language brand in Beijing in 2006. Photograph: Elizabeth Dalziel/APGuardian Staff2010-02-16T12:39:13ZArgleton: the world unmapped | Joe Moranhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/nov/30/argleton-google-earth-maps-streetview
A web lobby to preserve the village invented by Google illustrates a deep desire for unpredictability<p>It may be an unpromising place to look for Xanadu, but just north of Liverpool off the A59 there is a town that is already entering the annals of myth. This town, &quot;Argleton&quot;, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/03/google" title="Guardian: Welcome to Argleton, the town that doesn't exist">appears on Google Maps, by mistake</a>, and nowhere else. Mike Nolan and Roy Bayfield of Edge Hill University are the modern-day Marco Polos who discovered it, and there is now a &quot;<a href="http://fraccers.com/2009/11/help-save-argleton/" title="Fracas: Help save Argleton!">save Argleton</a>&quot; campaign on the web which is urging Google not to correct the error.</p><p>The preservationists have poetry on their side. Argleton is a fortuitously evocative name, sounding a bit like <a href="http://www.poemtree.com/poems/Adlestrop.htm" title="Poemtree: Adlestrop">Edward Thomas's Adlestrop</a>, that village in deepest England known only by its railway station; and even more like something out of an old Ealing comedy, about a town fighting for its autonomy against the faceless drones of Whitehall.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/nov/30/argleton-google-earth-maps-streetview">Continue reading...</a>Google Street ViewGoogleUK newsSocietyInternetPrivacyTechnologyMon, 30 Nov 2009 22:30:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/nov/30/argleton-google-earth-maps-streetviewJoe Moran2009-11-30T22:30:02ZMichael Cross: The information commissioner was right to defend Google Street Viewhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/apr/26/google-street-view-privacy
The information commissioner's ruling that Google Street View is not an invasion of privacy should be applauded by friends of liberty<p>Supporters of liberty should not merely accept the <a href="http://www.guprod.gnl/technology/2009/apr/23/google-street-view-data-protection-cleared" title="">Information Commissioner's Office</a> ruling that Google Street View does not contravene the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jan/22/explainer-data-sharing" title="">Data Protection Act</a>. They should <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/apr/06/michael-cross-google-free-data" title="">applaud it</a>. To allow Street View is not merely a &quot;<a href="http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/pressreleases/2009/google_streetview_220409_v2.pdf" title="">pragmatic and common sense</a>&quot;(pdf) position, as the ICO carefully puts it, but a statement in defence of the concept of public space. My only criticism is that the ruling does not go far enough in affirming Google's right to create its product.</p><p></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/apr/26/google-street-view-privacy">Continue reading...</a>Information commissionerPress freedomGoogle Street ViewGooglePrivacy & the mediaData protectionGovernment dataPrivacyInternetTechnologyMediaSun, 26 Apr 2009 08:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/apr/26/google-street-view-privacyMichael Cross2009-04-26T08:00:00ZMichael Cross: Some data, like Google Street View, should be made publichttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/apr/06/michael-cross-google-free-data
Henry Porter's claim that Google Street View has invaded the privacy of millions simply doesn't stand up<p>Let's keep a sense of proportion, here. Henry Porter is <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/05/google-internet-piracy">dead right</a> about the &quot;brattish, clever amorality&quot; of <a href="http://www.google.co.uk">Google</a> when it comes to enabling copyright theft and amassing data on individuals' web searches. However his claims that the company's <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/help/maps/streetview/index.html#utm_campaign=en&amp;utm_source=en-ha-na-us-google-svr&amp;utm_medium=ha&amp;utm_term=google%20street%20view">Street View system</a> &quot;invaded the privacy of millions&quot; and &quot;somehow laid claim to Britain's civic spaces&quot; don't stand up. </p><p>In our rightful backlash against the database state, we need to be aware that, just as some collections of data should be private, others should be public. And photographs taken in the public street belong firmly at the public end of the spectrum (assuming the copyright holder chooses to place them there). After all, in another arena of the civil liberties debate, aren't we campaigning for our <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/feb/12/photographers-anti-terror-laws">right to photograph police officers</a> from a public space? </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/apr/06/michael-cross-google-free-data">Continue reading...</a>Free our dataFreedom of informationGooglePolitics and technologyGoogle Street ViewTechnologyPoliticsSurveillanceUK civil libertiesData and computer securityData protectionHuman rightsGovernment dataPrivacyInternetTue, 07 Apr 2009 09:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/apr/06/michael-cross-google-free-dataMichael Cross2009-04-07T09:00:01ZRuaridh Nicoll on Google Street Viewhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/mar/22/google-street-view
<p>Thursday, 11am. I am walking through the office when a colleague says: &quot;So who is the lady you were walking along Pear Tree Court with last summer?&quot; I stop.</p><p>Google Street View has been live for a few hours and it's on everybody's screens. Which makes a change from Facebook, I suppose. And there I am - obviously me, despite the pixellated face. I look relaxed, it's sunny and I'm walking beside a woman who is definitely not my wife. &quot;You don't look like you're rushing back to the office,&quot; the colleague notes.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/mar/22/google-street-view">Continue reading...</a>Google Street ViewGoogleTechnologyPrivacyUK civil libertiesUK newsSun, 22 Mar 2009 00:01:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/mar/22/google-street-viewRuaridh Nicoll2009-03-22T00:01:00Zliberty central's civil liberties villain of the week: Googlehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/mar/20/google-street-view-civil-liberties
Google's new Street View service has launched in the UK amid criticism that it invades users' privacy<p>Google's new <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/google-street-view">Street View</a> service has launched in the UK amid criticism that it <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/19/google-uk-street-view">invades users' privacy</a>, with the company already <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7954596.stm">forced to remove</a> some offending images.</p><p>While potentially providing a useful service to some, Dr Ian Brown, a privacy expert at the Oxford Internet Institute, points out that Google should have &quot;thought more carefully about how [it] designed the service&quot;. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/mar/20/google-street-view-civil-liberties">Continue reading...</a>Google Street ViewUK civil libertiesGooglePrivacyUK newsData protectionFri, 20 Mar 2009 12:17:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/mar/20/google-street-view-civil-libertiesPublic domainGoogle's Street View, UKChris Jackson/GettyGuardian Staff2009-03-20T12:17:07ZRoger Browning: I'm on Google Street Viewhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/mar/19/google-street-view-google
Is that me, about to enter my front door? And what purpose does this online mapping development actually serve?<p>Perhaps it's the 21st century equivalent of being immortalised on film. Google Street View has launched in the UK and I appear to be in it, arriving home, striding up to the front door of my building in central London. </p><p>So has my <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/mar/19/google-street-view">privacy been invaded</a>? Well, you can't actually see my face (and in any case it is some poor sap's job to blur ALL the faces on streetview, or maybe they have software that does it) but anybody who knows me would assume it was me. I'm alone, but what if I had been in the company of a secret lover, for example? Or a banker? Or a banker who was my secret lover? How to explain that? And anyway what am I doing there at all? It was obviously taken at around midday: why aren't I at work? One can only assume I had nipped home at lunchtime (I live a short walk from the Guardian's old base in Farringdon Road). Actually I don't feel in the least bit invaded. It feels as if I've won a lottery prize.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/mar/19/google-street-view-google">Continue reading...</a>Google Street ViewGoogleUK civil libertiesTechnologyMapping technologiesThu, 19 Mar 2009 17:10:58 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/mar/19/google-street-view-googleRoger Browning2009-03-19T17:10:58Z